7 Tips on Writing a Great Resume

If you want to land your dream job you need to have a killer resume. One thing said by all hiring managers around the world is they feel reluctant to hire any person coming with an incomplete or bad resume. A resume is what represents all your past accomplishments, qualifications, and work-related experiences. It is your fool-proof way to impress any member of a job interview panel.

Not everyone knows the subtle art of creating a solid resume that can manifest who you are and what you have done in a very expressive and professional way. Here are 7 tips that will help you in writing your next badass resume.

Write with a purpose

A resume is not a document written to plead a job from a company or its hiring manager. Do not use your resume to show how desperate you are to find a job and earn some money. It should contain only your accomplishments and past working experiences related to that particular job. It is better to have different types of resumes targeting different types of job opportunities as it will show them you are in fact, a professional in that particular field.

Always back up your qualifications

Filling your resumes with long lists of past job description is not going to land you the job you want. At present, hiring managers focus more on people who are capable of solving problems and fulfilling the requirements of the company. It will be helpful if you can provide examples of similar instances where you have brought solutions to companies in the past.

It is important to focus on what you have actually done and accomplished rather than listing your entire past job descriptions. If you just use job descriptions only, without explaining how you have actually contributed in each instance separately, it will give the impression that you are trying to inflate your past work and oversell yourself. Therefore, you can use a few top lines to briefly explain the job description followed by many lines focusing mainly on your accomplishments. Make sure to describe how each one of your qualifications can be applied to benefit the company.

Write the content well

Make sure to write the content of your resume in a well-organized manner. Write the most important experiences and qualifications at the top, followed by lesser important ones. Do not forget to include keywords as well. Usually, the HR managers run search queries for candidates based on specific keywords. If you do not include keywords related to the job post you are applying to in your resume, you will be at a greater disadvantage from the very beginning. In addition, make sure to include effective titles to keep your resume properly organized.

It is better not to include anything negative in your resume. For instance, don’t include reasons for hating your previous company or employer as a part of your resume!

Avoid using any pictures on your resume, unless you are applying for a modeling job. Try to write everything down in the shortest and the simplest way you can muster.

Follow proper formatting

If you have written your resume well and still it got rejected, then there must be something wrong with its formatting. Even the well-written resumes get thrown into the trash bin if their writing formats are not that good. An interviewer usually skims and scans through a resume for a few seconds. They normally receive a number of resumes to examine within a single day. They can’t spend more than a couple of minutes on a single resume. Therefore, you should make sure that with just one glance, all the key points can be covered.

If possible, limit your resume to two pages because it will be easier to scan a short resume rather than a long one. Organize the content in your resume well. Use headings and subheadings where needed. Use wide margins, type clean and selectively apply bold and italic typefaces where appropriate. Avoid using font size less than 12 if possible. Use bullet points to list your accomplishments.

Include only the truth

You should never include false information in your resume. You should be honest about your qualifications and accomplishments because if you happen to land the job somehow, they will expect you to live up to your qualifications and strengths. If you fail to do so, that will bring bad outcomes to both you and your company.

Use a career summary

It is the latest trend to use a career summary in place of objectives. A career summary is a brief overview of the work you have done so far and currently doing. A good career summary can gain the attention of any recruiter immediately. Make sure to include information that can convince them that you are a good solution for the problems of their organization.

Update regularly

Never use the same old resume that you used many years ago. It might be missing some important things that you have done recently. You must have acquired more academic qualifications and work experiences along the way. They can be really important for the job that you are interested in now. So, make it a habit to keep track of everything and update your resume regularly.

It is true that writing a perfect resume can be a challenging task. However, the tips mentioned above will help you in constructing a good resume that can represent both you and your talents. Even when you have completed your resume, don’t forget to review it by giving to someone who is more experienced and knowledgeable than you are.